9 Days Circumnavigating Whitewater Bay

[Connie Mier]

Happy New Year to all!
Vivian and I just returned from our annual holiday trip through the glades. This year, we did a route that started in Hells Bay, across Whitewater Bay to Joe River, Oyster Bay and into Shark River, into Canepatch for 2 nights to explore Rookery Branch, back out and into the labyrinth to Watson River, Roberts River, Lane Bay and back through the Hells Bay Trail to the end.

Long story short, we got lucky with the weather and were off the water on New Years Day a few hours before the front passed over. it was a great trip and I hope to write about it and post on my website within a few days. In the meantime, please enjoy the slideshow of the trip, linked here:

http://s257.photobucket.com/albums/hh202/cmierkayaker/Whitewater%20...
Connie

[yakmaster]

sweet shots!

Looks like a fabulous way to end/begin the year!

[Jared E]

Great photos! I can't wait to get out and do a trip like this!

-Jared E.

[Juan Estevez]

Excellent pictures! that's a trip I'd like to do one day, Canepatch looks like a real nice place to camp.

[toofaraway]

Beautiful! I love your loop. One could explore for 9 days and never get past Lane Bay.

TFA

[Connie Mier]

TFA., you got that right. Jared, Juan and yakmaster, thanks for the comments. Got a trip story if anyone is interested in reading more about it: http://cmierphotoandfitness.net/Whitewaterbay.html.
Connie

[Jared E]

Connie,

Even better write up! The pictures were great but the story makes them even better. Two of my passions are fishing and photography and the hardest part about one of these trips would be choosing when to do one or the other. I'm going to try to do my first overnight trip in the next month then maybe a 3 day and eventually a 7 or 9 day trip. Hopefully I'll be able to post up some nice pictures soon. I am really looking forward to it! As my sons get a little older we'll have to setup a family trip to make sure they don't have to get the "Ranger Talk" when they are in their 20s.

-Jared E.

[Juan Estevez]

Connie,

Great trip story! and now that you mention "chickee gymnastics" in your article; have you seen the pictures of the new chickees in Florida Bay? Those are like 8 feet off the water, I wonder if the Park Service cares about us paddlers. I'm one for sure that I would never stay in those chickees, I bet they will be the least used checkees in the park. I guess the only happy ones are the pelicans and cormorants that already made them their home.

[Connie Mier]

Thanks Jared and Juan.
Juan, You are so right about that! Our friend Alex who paddled with us on this trip camped on both of the chickees in Florida Bay. He said he wore his PFD while on the platform almost the entire time. Falling into the shallow water from such distance would not be an easy fall. And by the looks of the photo he showed us, it was more than 8 ft distance, more like about 12 feet. Ridiculous! BTW, ranger Buckley explained to us that the "wilderness experts" who recommended those chickees have never paddled in the Everglades. Unbelievable.

Oyster Bay chickee and Harney River chickees are notoriously difficult at low tide. One piece of advice is to plan those stays around the tides for loading and unloading.